Richard Hancorn (c. 1754 – 1792) was a British Royal Navy officer, serving during the late eighteenth century.
32-651: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Morice Pole, 1st Baronet GCB (18 January 1757 – 6 September 1830) was a Royal Navy officer, colonial administrator and politician. As a junior officer he saw action at the siege of Pondicherry in India during the American Revolutionary War . After taking command of the fifth-rate HMS Success he captured and then destroyed the Spanish frigate Santa Catalina in
64-746: A Lord Commissioner when the Second Portland Ministry took power in March 1807: in Parliament he became increasingly critical of the new Government particularly in relation to their handling of the raid on Copenhagen in 1807 (which led to the Anglo-Russian War ) and the Convention of Sintra in 1808 (which allowed the French to evacuate their troops from Portugal ). Pole was appointed a Knight Commander of
96-463: A colony that would remove the need for slave plantations in the Caribbean. The expedition, which consisted of two ships and two hundred and seventy-five colonists, set sail from England on 14 April 1792. Lieutenant Philip Beaver , president of the council of the colonization society, was commander of HMS Hankey ; Hancorn, vice-president, was commander of HMS Calypso . Most of the settlers died and
128-517: A former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff, was also appointed an honorary admiral of the fleet. Richard Hancorn (Royal Navy officer) On 15 February 1783, Hancorn was commissioned to the rank of lieutenant aboard the Bonetta-class sloop under the command of William Henry Ricketts. Soon after, he joined HMS Melampus , under the command of Sir Charles Pole, 1st Baronet , who
160-518: A senior officer. As Hancorn expressed, he was "getting under way before he had received his sailing orders." An explosive incident occurred soon after when Hancorn entered the Star & Garter Inn in Portsmouth and was followed by Butterfield and four other midshipmen: Hannam, Hamlin, Parkinson and Trollop, the latter three being from HMS Melampus . Hannam, who was informed of the incident and believed Hancorn
192-652: A serious outbreak of smallpox that had taken place, deploying the latest practices in inoculation and establishing a "Committee for the Relief of the Poor". Promoted to vice-admiral on 1 January 1801, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet, with his flag in the second-rate HMS St George in June 1801. Pole was created a baronet on 18 August 1801 and then became Member of Parliament for Newark in 1802. In December 1802 he
224-497: A superior officer such behaviour was totally reprehensible, finally vacating the situation and prompting a further torrent of insults and hisses. Pole reported the incident to Vice-Admiral Robert Roddam , from whom it was then referred to the Attorney-General. In June 1791, the offending midshipmen were ordered to deliver a sincere apology to Hancorn. Pole became commanding officer of the third-rate HMS Illustrious in 1791 and
256-421: A tyrant, immediately initiated in verbally abusing him. The others followed and Hancorn soon found himself challenged to five separate fights. He responded by reminding them of their Naval traditions and that, as a superior officer, such behaviour was "totally reprehensible". Labelled a "rascal", "scoundrel" and "coward", he vacated the situation, prompting a further torrent of insults and hisses. Hancorn reported
288-551: The Duke of Clarence on 1 June 1789. He became commanding officer of the fifth-rate HMS Melampus in May 1790, in which he watched the French fleet at Brest , as a result of the Nootka Crisis . While in command of HMS Melampus , Pole was involved in a fiery conflict between Lieutenant Richard Hancorn and Midshipman William Butterfield. Upon joining Melampus , Hancorn provoked the anger of
320-560: The Strait of Gibraltar in the action of 16 March 1782 later in that War. After capturing the French privateer Vanneau in June 1793, Pole took part in the siege of Toulon at an early stage of the French Revolutionary Wars . He went on to be governor and commander-in-chief of Newfoundland and then commanded the Baltic Fleet later in the War. He also served as a Lord Commissioner of
352-655: The coronation of his wife Elizabeth II as Queen. This promotion was to a New Zealand rank, separate from the Royal Navy rank. Following the creation of the Chief of the Defence Staff in 1959, the five naval officers appointed to that position became admirals of the fleet. Recognizing the reduced post– Cold War size of the British Armed Forces, no further appointments were made to the rank after 1995 when Sir Benjamin Bathurst
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#1733085243324384-586: The fourth-rate HMS Salisbury on the East Indies Station in December 1773. Promoted to lieutenant on 26 June 1777, he was assigned to the sixth-rate HMS Seahorse and then transferred to the fourth-rate HMS Rippon in 1778 and saw action at the siege of Pondicherry in India in October 1778 during the American Revolutionary War . He then became commanding officer of the sloop HMS Cormorant and
416-756: The Admiralty on the Admiralty Board led by Viscount Howick during the Napoleonic Wars . From 1820 to 1822, he served as Governor of the Bank of England . Born the second son of Reginald Pole and Anne Pole (née Buller), Pole was educated at Plympton Grammar School before joining the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth in January 1770. He was appointed to the fifth-rate HMS Thames in 1772 and then transferred to
448-725: The Fleet in the Channel Squadron under Lord Bridport in March 1797. It fell to Pole to advise the Admiralty about the strikes by sailors demanding better pay and conditions which came to be known as the Spithead mutiny . Pole returned to Spithead with negotiators from the Admiralty but talks broke down when Admiral Sir Alan Gardner threatened to hang all the mutineers. Pole became governor and commander-in-chief of Newfoundland on 3 June 1800: following his appointment he focussed on dealing with
480-623: The Fleet (Royal Navy) Admiral of the Fleet is a five-star naval officer rank and the highest rank of the Royal Navy , formally established in 1688. The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10 , equivalent to a field marshal in the British Army or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force . Apart from honorary appointments, no new admirals of the fleet have been named since 1995, and no honorary appointments have been made since 2014. The origins of
512-522: The Navy took no further action, Butterfield quit the Navy in the interim and returned only in 1794, once his superior was dead. In 1792, a group of officers of the Royal Navy led an attempt to resettle Black former slaves from the Americas on the island of Bulama off the coast of Portuguese Guinea . The Bulama Association, a philanthropic and financial organisation of which Hancorn was a member, hoped to create
544-648: The Order of the Bath on 12 April 1815 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 20 April 1818. He went on to be Deputy Governor of the Bank of England in 1818 and Governor of the Bank of England in 1820. He became Sheriff of Hertfordshire in November 1824, and having been promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 July 1830, he died at his home, Aldenham Abbey , on 6 September 1830. In 1792 Pole married Henrietta Goddard; they had two daughters. Admiral of
576-514: The admiral of the fleet role. In a break with tradition the rank was awarded to the most senior Admiral of the Red, who retained this substantive rank while also serving as Admiral of the Fleet. Appointments were for life, remunerated via a £5 daily stipend and an annual allowance of £1,014 for the hiring and maintenance of servants. It was intended that only one officer would hold the rank at any time, with their presence aboard any naval vessel to be denoted by
608-564: The fleet being divided into three divisions – red, white, or blue. Each division was assigned at least one admiral , who in turn commanded a number of vice-admirals and rear admirals . While the full admirals were nominally equals, tradition gave precedence to the Admiral of the White who held the fleet rank in addition to his substantive role. The Restoration era brought a general reorganisation of naval ranks and structure, including formalisation of
640-679: The flying of the Royal Standard from the main mast . The ranks of Admiral of the Fleet and Admiral of the Red were formally separated from 1805, with an announcement in the London Gazette that "His Majesty [has] been pleased to order the Rank of Admirals of the Red to be restored" in His Majesty's Navy..." as a separate role. The same Gazette promoted 22 men to that rank. From the nineteenth century onward there were also occasional variations to
672-468: The incident to Pole, who reported it to Vice-Admiral Robert Roddam , from whom it was then referred to the Attorney-General. In June 1791, the offending midshipmen were brought to the Winchester Assizes to stand trial. The judge ruled in favour of Hancorn and referred their punishment to the Admiralty , stipulating that the five men deliver a sincere apology to Hancorn, as much to his liking. Although
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#1733085243324704-471: The midshipmen by handing out harsh and unfair punishments for minor transgressions. Butterfield, in particular, was lashed to a grating and pulled to the top of the mizzen in a public display, because he had engaged in his ordinary duties without express permission. An explosive incident occurred soon after when Hancorn was followed by Butterfield and four other midshipmen and found himself challenged to five separate fights. He responded by reminding them that as
736-491: The previous requirement that only one Admiral of Fleet could serve at one time. In 1821 George IV appointed Sir John Jervis as a second admiral of the fleet, to balance the Duke of Wellington ' s promotion as a second Field Marshal in the British Army. In 1830 King William IV increased the number of admirals of the fleet to three, though these additional lifetime postings subsequently lapsed. Between 1854 and 1857 there
768-537: The rank can be traced back to John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp de Warwick , who was appointed ' Admiral of the King's Southern, Northern and Western Fleets ' on 18 July 1360. The appointment gave the command of the English navy to one person for the first time; this evolved into the post of Admiral of the Fleet. In the days of sailing ships the admiral distinctions then used by the Royal Navy included distinctions related to
800-555: Was abandoned in 1864, though the rank of admiral of the fleet was maintained. The title of First Naval Lord was renamed First Sea Lord in 1904. During the two World Wars a number of serving officers held active commissions as admirals of the fleet, as well as the First Sea Lord—e.g. Sir John Tovey . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was created an Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1954, following
832-452: Was appointed admiral of the fleet on his retirement as First Sea Lord. The rank was not abolished and in 2012 the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III ) became an honorary admiral of the fleet (as well as field marshal and marshal of the Royal Air Force ), in recognition of his support to Queen Elizabeth II in her role of as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces. In 2014, Lord Boyce ,
864-488: Was appointed to the frigate in May 1790 as a result of the Nootka Crisis . Upon joining HMS Melampus , Hancorn provoked the anger of the midshipmen by handing out "harsh and unfair" punishments for minor transgressions. Of particular grievance was his response to the misdemeanour of Midshipman William Butterfield, who was lashed to a grating and pulled to the top of the mizzen in a public display, because he had engaged in his ordinary duties without express permission from
896-496: Was asked to chair a commission of naval inquiry into abuses in the civil administration which reported in May 1803. Promoted to full admiral on 9 November 1805, Pole was present at the funeral of Lord Nelson in January 1806. He became a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty on the Admiralty Board led by Viscount Howick in February 1806. He was also elected Member of Parliament for Plymouth in November 1806. However he stood down as
928-467: Was given command of the fifth-rate HMS Success and in her, while undertaking an escort mission in support of the armed store-ship HMS Vernon , captured and then destroyed the Spanish frigate Santa Catalina in the Strait of Gibraltar in the action of 16 March 1782 . Following the end of the War, Pole was given command of the third-rate HMS Crown before becoming Groom of the Bedchamber to
960-538: Was no admiral of the fleet at all as the most senior naval officer of the time – Admiral of the Red Thomas Le Marchant Gosselin – was mentally ill and had not served at sea for forty-five years. In deference to Gosselin's seniority the position was instead left vacant until his death in 1857, whereupon it was filled by Admiral Charles Ogle . The organisation of the British fleet into coloured squadrons
992-401: Was sent home with the despatches. Promoted to captain on 22 March 1779, Pole became commanding officer of the first-rate HMS Britannia , flagship of Rear Admiral George Darby , Second-in-Command of the Channel Squadron . He transferred to the command of the sixth-rate HMS Hussar in 1780 which ran aground off Hell Gate although he was acquitted at the subsequent court-martial . He
Sir Charles Pole, 1st Baronet - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-608: Was transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS Colossus in the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1793 and, after capturing the French privateer Vanneau in June 1793, took part in the siege of Toulon at an early stage of the French Revolutionary Wars . Promoted to rear-admiral on 1 June 1795, Pole became Second-in-Command of the West Indies Station with his flag in HMS Colossus . He went on to be Captain of
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